News European Data Protection Day 28/01/2019
The European Data Protection Day is held today, a date devoted to raising awareness of the rights and obligations of citizens and businesses around data privacy. In 2006, the Council of Europe launched a Data Protection Day to be celebrated each year on 28th January, the date on which the Council of Europe’s data protection convention, known as ‘Convention 108’, was opened to signature. Data Protection Day is now celebrated globally and is called ‘Privacy Day’ outside Europe.
This day's celebration aims to raise awareness about the importance of privacy, promoting personal data protection and to inform citizens about their rights and how to exercise them more effectively as well as to alert the institutions regarding the best practices on this matter.
As the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been directly applicable to all Member States for about 8 months and legislation has already been drafted in a number of European Union countries, with a view to adapting it to the aims of the GDPR, in Portugal we are still waiting for the approval of the national diploma, which, hopefully, will answer some questions.
In this particular context, GPA - Gouveia Pereira, Costa Freitas & Associados - Sociedade de Advogados, SP, RL. have been developing projects to implement the new rules on personal data protection, inform and advise on data protection obligations, including support to Data Protection Officers, as well as to provide legal advice to various clients in different sectors of business and activity.
In this scenario, GPA team includes 20 (twenty) Data Protection Professionals certified by the Irish Computer Society, 4 (four) Rumos certified (CRE-DPO) as Data Protection Officers, as well as 1 (one) IAPP - International Association of Privacy Professionals.
In partnership with the University Of Lisbon - School Of Law, GPA promoted the 1st Data Protection and Business Days, which took place on May 3, 2018, as well as the 1st Post-Graduation Course on Data Protection and Companies, held from October 17, 2018 until February 20, 2019. The latter is handled by two GPA's members.
It should be noted that in 2018, GPA was also at the 1st National Data Protection Congress of the AEPD (Association of Data Protection Officers) and signed a chapter on Cybersecurity legislation in Portugal, published by ICLG (International Comparative Legal Guide) in 2018.
On the other hand, GPA Academy - which aims to provide continuing training to GPA's Lawyers and employees - upheld the edition on "General Regulation on Data Protection - Legislation and some notes", edited by Dr. Sofia Santos and Dr. João Gabriel and published by Almedina.
Furthermore, GPA Academy has recently held nine sessions on Data Protection Certification Course, in partnership with the Irish Computer Society, awarding certificates.